Thread by @StephenM

A personal thread on the @MLB controversy: I’ve been a baseball fan my entire life. Almost every penny of allowance as a kid went to cards (all saved). Growing up in LA, my baseball hero was Eric Karros & my most my prized possession was a signed baseball from Tommy Lasorda (1/8)

The best birthday present I ever got my father was a Topps 1956 Sandy Koufax card. My favorite way to spend a summer afternoon in DC is a nationals game. And I strongly oppose the DH. In short, like so many Americans, baseball is woven deeply into the fabric of my life. (2/8)

Few sights in the world are more beautiful than our flag waving over the diamond as the anthem plays. Baseball is the American Sport. The optimism you feel every time your batter swaggers up the plate w/runners on base—no clock, no timer—is the essence of the American spirit(3/8)

As the nat’l pastime baseball has a deep, even sacred, responsibility to ensure the sport remains the inheritance of all Americans—no matter their party or politics. It must be above the petty & partisan. Baseball does not belong to Manfred or @MLB — they are the caretakers.(4/8)

With his decision to engage in ugly, angry, divisive & vengeful partisan politics (based on a web of outright lies), Commissioner Manfred has betrayed not only the fans of baseball, but the sport itself. He has broken an unwritten covenant between his sport and the nation. (5/8)

If @MLB wishes to remain the caretaker of the national pastime—something larger than sport itself—then Manfred must resign. The vindictive attacks on GA must end. The All-Star game must be returned. A nation needs nonpartisan symbols & cultural events that stitch us together(6/8)

Manfred’s selfish & cowardly conduct has sullied a treasured part of our national heritage. He has opened the Pandora’s Box to the hyper-politicization of one of our last truly unifying civic rituals. Those who love & cherish baseball must reclaim the sport for all citizens(7/8)

@MLB is at a crossroads: it can either replace Manfred, or remain the national pastime. It cannot do both (8/8).